Living the dream
by Beffax3
Summary: Did you ever wonder what happened before Starship? Taz and Up for example. Many of the questions you have asked about them is: 'What happened to Taz's hair' 'How did Taz react to Up's injury' 'Is Taz even her real name' 'Is Up even his real name' Your questions are about to be answered. (This story is also by me on Wattpad) Rated T for violence and swearing.


A/N: Hola! Here is a new and improved version of :'Living the Dream'. The other one was a total fail. Such a shame, I worked so hard on it….*sniff*. Enjoy.

Disclaimer(one of the things I didn't have in the nightmare LTD; other Living the Dream. I'm so glad I didn't get sued for that…:( )I DO NOT own Starship, or Taz, or Up. But I do own Taz's family. :)

Taz gaped at the girl she saw in the mirror. It wasn't the same girl she saw a few hours ago- a girl with her scruffy black hair pulled back into a messy plait, soccer boots strapped around her feet and mud all over her face. This girl couldn't possibly be her. Now way. The mirror-person was wearing a frilly pink dress that flowed all the way down to the floor, her hair was now wavy and caressing in precise curls down her back and some of it falling into curls on her face, tall heels, and heavy red and pink makeup replacing the mud.

'There is no way I'm wearing this, Mama!' Taz groaned, huffing as she slouched, as if the weight of the world just dropped from her shoulders.

'Come on, mi hija, it's not that bad'

'Yes, it is! I would've like a white or red dress, but your stupid husband went out and picked out a pink one for me'

'Taz! Don't you dare insult you stepfather in that way, or this whole thing will be off!'

'Fine by me' Taz mumbled. Her Mama shot her a glare that Taz supposed meant death after her Quinceanera.

Taz sighed, daring to look at the stranger in the mirror again. Her face was heavy with makeup- pink eye shadow, copious amounts of pink blush on her cheeks and heavy red lipstick. Luckily for Taz, she had an advantage of long brown lashes, which meant no mascara. She had deep, chocolate brown eyes, and long raven black hair. She had always pleaded with her Mama to get it cut short, but she would never allow it. Taz's olive skin was smooth and tanned, and she was very small, barely even 5"3. And Taz was 15. The day she'd been dreading since she was 9. Before then, she was looking forward to it, but that was when she was into princesses and tea parties with her teddy bears. Now she was into soccer, and getting dirty and Starship Rangers.

She wanted to be one so badly, ever since the death of her papa, when she was only 10 years old. He was a Starship Ranger, and he was burnt to ashes by angry robots in the early days of the robot wars, which were sadly still going. But barely a year after her papa had died, her 'sleaze' of a mama had married again to the biggest hijos de puta Taz had ever met, dragging two more idota stepbrothers along with him to add to the family. She already had a brother named Leon who was 17, who wanted to be a ranger as well, with only one more year to wait. Then, there were her two younger sisters: Rosa and Katia. Katia was the youngest, at five. She was exactly like Taz as she was now- tomboyish, loud and in desperate need of anger management. Rosa was on that road as well, at the age of 11, but she was still having a little bit of trouble at getting out of what Taz called the 'tea party' phase. Her stepbrothers were Martinez and Leo. Martinez was 20, and couldn't stand Taz, which Taz wasn't phased by, because Taz felt exactly the same way about him. Leo was 15, and he and Taz were inseparable. Like a real brother and sister- best friends, but still thought of each other as their idiot relatives sometimes. And the royal hijos de puta, Taz's stepfather, Enrique, was on the same road as Martinez about Taz- he hated the 'creature', as he called her. He was almost a bigger sleaze than Taz's Mama, which was a big statement. Taz and her Mama were close, a few fights here and there, most of them about things Taz wanted, like her name changed to Taz. She hates her real name. It's too 'girly' and 'ridiculo' for her, but before she turned 9 she loved her name. Taz had made a deal with her mama- she has a Quinceanera and her Mama didn't call her by her real name for a whole day. So now every time her Mama said: 'Taz' she cringed slightly.

To Taz's horror, her Mama had just finished sprinkling glitter all over her shoulders. With a groan, Taz spun to face Leo, a death glare that was a perfect match to her Mama's a few minutes ago.

'Not a single word, hermano, not a single word' she growled, pointing a stern finger at him. He sniggered slightly, raising his hands as if in surrender as he walked out of the room chuckling.

'Jou have five minutes, mi hija' Taz's Mama somewhat ordered, kissing her daughter and the cheek and cart wheeling cheerily out of the room.

Taz groaned as she spun on the spot to feel her dress spinning in every direction.

_I feel like a human cupcake_Taz thought to herself, half smirking half frowning. A secret part of Taz wanted to have a Quinceanera, but only for her Mama…and the giant cake.

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Clapping rippled around the room. Taz was struggling to keep a smile on her face. She had to hold hands with Enrique when she was walking down the stairs. When the reached the bottom, they released their hands immediately.

'Jou will never touch me again hijos de puta' Taz warned, a death glare on her face.

'I wasn't planning on it' Enrique growled in retort, giving her a fake smile before rushing away from her.

Taz sighed, thinking about what was going to happen tonight. There was the cake (Taz would never forget that), a piñata, she had to dance with Enrique. Taz groaned at the thought. And she had to dance with one of the estupido, weak boys that lived in her small village in the corner of Mexico City. She wouldn't really have anything to worry about- half the boys would be afraid to dance with her, as she had already broken their bones and beat them during fights. No boy wanted to be in her bad books. The only boy she'd ever dance with was Leo, or Leon.

'What are jou thinking about?' Rosa had just grabbed hold of Taz in a hug.

'Nothing' Taz lied, bending over to hug her sister properly.

'Having fun?' Rosa teased.

'Jou wish'

'Well, good luck'

'With what?'

'Getting through dancing with Enrique' Rosa teased again, kissing Taz on the cheek and dancing away into the crowd of relatives.

After hours of relatives, half of them unknown to Taz, saying hello and congratulating her, Taz had sprinted over to the garden at the back of the house to get away from it all. She sat down on the bench in the garden and sighed. How was she going to survive?

Another thing she was worried about was robots. The wars were still going, and any chance robots got they would kill any humans that stood in their path. She took a deep breath, kicking herself for being such a worrywart.

'Hey, hermana' it was Leon.

'Hi' she greeted agitatedly.

'What's up?'

'Nothing, just a bit worried'

'About the robots?'

'Si' Taz sighed.

'Well stop worrying' he assured her, kissing her on the cheek. 'Nothings going to happen-there are loads of rangers guarding the city' and with that, he left the garden, leaving Taz to her thoughts.

She took a deep breath and stood up. At that moment, a loud crash made her legs give way and she fell to the ground again. When she gained control of her feet again, she stood up and looked up into the night sky worriedly. She just wanted to run deep into the garden and hide, because there was only one thing that could have made the explosive shake. The robots were well on their way. She dared to step back into the main part of the Quinceanera, butterflies pressing on her stomach. She felt like she was going to throw up. She guessed her Mama and a few more relatives knew what was coming, as they were all looking around with worried expressions. Another shake. It was louder and stronger this time, so much that half the party fell to the ground. Taz was one of those people, and all the other children plus a few adults were down. Desperately, Taz stood up, searching for any signs of robots. There was one more shake, a short pause, and before she knew it, Taz was flying through the air. She let a scream escape from her lips as she was going down. A poignant pain shot through her foot as she hit the ground hard with a loud thump. She didn't know if she could get up again. That was, until she heard an all to familiar scream. The scream made her stand up quickly, limping into the smoke.

'Get away from my sister, jou heartless toasters!' she screamed, grabbing a garden rake and stabbing the robots back with the end. She did it a few more times and the robot exploded into small metal parts.

'Taz… Taz' Rosa was on the floor crying. 'Katia. She's gone. Is saw it' she was hyperventilating through tears.

'Come here, hermani' Taz whispered, pulling her into her arms.' It's okay, it's okay' Taz carried her behind a large tree, taking Leo with her, who she found trying to kill a robot with his switch knife.

'Stay here. Leo, look after Rosa. And give me jour knife' Taz ordered. No one wanted to argue with her; now wasn't the time to argue. Leo quickly handed Taz his knife, and she limped into the mist.

Leo already had an arm that he suspected was broken, and Rosa had countless scratches and bruises. Taz, with a broken foot, was their only chance.

Leo had an idea.

'Play dead' he whispered to Rosa, and they both lay down on the floor.

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Lieutenant Up and his ensigns had their zappers set to pew, and they were running towards where the screams could be heard. They reached a church in the corner of the village, which was engulfed in smoke and fire. Robots were shooting and cutting up countless humans, and every second there was one scream less and one body more.

'Split up into groups. You guys, go that way, you guys, go that way and we'll go that way'

He ran through the smoke. By the time he got there, he could only hear a single scream.

'You guys, fight off the robots. I'll try and find any more signs of life'

Ignoring his ensigns argues, he ran in the direction of the scream. His shirt was drenched in sweat. So was his face, which blurred his vision slightly. With each step, the scream got louder, and when he stopped, he had hands down decided that this was the worst thing he had ever seen a robot do.

A small girl wearing a ripped, burnt dress was tied by the ankles to a tree, and she was screaming in both rage and fear.

'I'll kill jou pocos mierdas! Hijos de putas! Jou killed her! Jou toasters will pay!' she had a thick Spanish accent and she was half crying, half yelling in rage. Her face was all dirty and scathed and her hair was mangy and blood soaked.

The robots just laughed as one of them hit her with a large pole. Her body crippled. Up could tell that wasn't the first time she had been hit; blood was dripping from the waist of her dress.

_Why are you just standing there, Up? Go help her!_He thought to himself, pulling up his zapper and running into battle.

'LEAVE HER ALONE YOU METAL BITCHES!' he screamed, shooting at the robots. As soon as the robots got shot they died, as they were only small, at around 5"5. As he yelled the words, the girl looked at him, a pleading look in her brown eyes. A looked of shock overcame her as the robots died, and her eyes grew relieved. And then she passed out.

'Taz! Taz! Sir, she's not dead is she?!' a small, skinny boy was running towards the scene, holding a passed out girl in his arms.

'No, just passed out. How about this one, son?' he asked, gesturing to the girl in his arms.

'Alive. She just fainted in shock. She could see Taz from here and thought she was going to die' he smiled slightly, but his face grew back into a frown quickly.

'We'd better get her down' he suggested, pulling out a knife and running over to the girl, the boy close behind him.

'What's your name, boy?' he asked, starting to cut the rope.

'Leo. This is Rosa and that's Taz'

'How old are you kids?'

'I'm 15, and so is Taz, and Rosa is 11'

By the end of that sentence, Taz was in Up's arms and the boys were sprinting to the other ensigns.

'What the hell happened?' one of the ensigns asked.

'Now isn't a time to explain. We need a medic' and Up, Leo and the ensigns sprinted to the drop pod.

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When Taz woke up she could hear the steady sound of beeping. She immediately realised where she was. She opened her eyes into a squint and looked around. Rosa was awake in a bed next to her, and on the other side of her, Leo was resting.

There was also a man sitting on a chair next to him with the eyes the colour of the bluest blue she had ever seen.

She knew those blue eyes somewhere. And then it all came flooding back. She remembered a pole, a piñata and angry robots. And then she remembered the piñata was her, and this man had saved her life.

She sat up.

'Good, you're awake' smiled a nurse next to Taz that she didn't even notice was there in the first place. The nurse scribbled down notes onto a board before leaving to get Taz a cup of water.

'How are you feeling?' the man asked.

'That's a pretty estupido question' Taz laughed, but immediately stopped, grabbing her stomach in pain.

'What's wrong with me?' Taz asked, her face going soft.

'A broken rib, a broken foot and a dislocated shoulder' he said blankly.

'Taz?' Leo was awake. 'Taz!' he sat up immediately. Rosa just realised her awakening too and was now smiling a1000 watt smile.

This was pretty good way to wake up.


End file.
